


Off the Beaten Path

by Merfilly



Series: Walk a Different Road [9]
Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Xenophilia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-27
Updated: 2011-09-27
Packaged: 2017-10-24 02:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/257836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikaela's been captured... and this is what happens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Off the Beaten Path

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Post-RotF, precludes further canon.  
> 2\. Established mech/human pairing, though not present in this chapter.  
> 3\. Discussion of a wild animal's death

Mikaela was not going to hyperventilate, even if she was currently trapped inside the barrel of a tanker truck. Not even the fact of this tanker being Octane was going to make her lose her calm. She still had her transmitter, though it was inactive. She would not activate it while inside another Cybertronian. She was an asset to the Autobots. They would find her.

She was not thinking on why the pair had abducted her. She did not want to know why the pair wanted her alive.

For the millionth time since they began rolling, a fuel tanker escorted by a heavy armored truck, Mikaela studied the tank she was in, eyes fixing on the vents Octane had modified into place for her breathing needs. They were the only weakness she could find so far, and it was too slim a hope to hang onto.

`~`~`~`~`

Octane was nervous, the closer they got to the arranged meeting place. What if they made their offering and it was not accepted? They were exposing themselves to risk and ruin by doing this. Blitzwing, though, was certain. What they had observed of Mikaela made the humans less an annoyance, and more a potentially useful tool. If they could convince their contact of this, the discovery and willing surrender of data, would buy them back into Megatron's graces.

::Calm down, 'Tane.:: Blitzwing's firm tone strengthened the other mech's resolve. They did not even know just which mech from the army would meet them. All they knew was a set of geographic coordinates and a time to be there.

::Don't like this nasty organic mess every where! The hydrogen dioxide is even hopelessly contaminated by it,:: Octane growled, to divert attention away from his cowardice.

::When it's over, and Lord Megatron has subdued the Prime, we'll set our allotment of servitors to straining it out,:: Blitzwing replied, humor in his tone.

::Heh. Sounds like a useful thing for them.::

`~`~`~`~`

Megatron adjusted his still malfunctioning arm manually, growling in annoyance at having to do so. Behind him, he heard the scraping noises of the hatchlings who had survived from the spawning of his second and the Fallen. Starscream's usefulness being reduced to a code-donor and protector was amusing to him on certain levels. However, he was not going to allow Starscream to continue the nurturing process. He wanted strong warriors out of the brood, uncorrupted by his sniveling sycophant of a second. That was the reason he had sent to Seeker to perform his function: find new energy sources that the small creations could process better than the fuels the mechs had been dependent on since arriving here.

Soundwave was off, of course, doing what he did best. Manipulation of native populations was a better use of that one's abilities than waiting here in the dismal, murky, organic infested swamp. Megatron still relished the sight of the hatchlings tearing apart the organic that had wandered into their enclosure. The alligator, as he had learned it was called, had been a satisfactory test of the brood. The fact only one hatchling had failed to survive the battle was testimony to how well Megatron was guiding them toward full self-realization.

Distantly, he heard two engines approaching. The pair were on schedule then, and would be … an interesting diversion. Their claim of something worth trading to him for the removal of the bounty on their helms was quite amusing. In truth, he hardly even cared what the pair had done during his absence from the army, in his long, cold exile here. They were purported to be good warriors, overcoming all attempts to capture them. Megatron would accept them back no matter what; first, though, he meant to make them quiver in fear to learn how they handled themselves.

With another growl, Megatron silenced his HUD warnings as they pinged, yet again, about the damage to his optic and facial structure. In time, he would repair that damage, but for now, he had more important tasks for his energy-depleted system. The weapon arm was his first priority, new warriors his second, and planning for the future was his third.

`~`~`~`~`

Mikaela was expelled as Octane transformed. The light was not blinding to her, but enough of a change that it took some moments to get a proper focus on her surroundings. Of course, her nose told her more than her eyes could at first, along with other perceptions. It was humid, hot, and the scent of both decay and new growth near brackish water added up to the short, comparatively, land journey in here head to tell her she was in the Everglades.

//Close, so close,// she thought to herself, realizing that the Autobots, if they picked up the trail quick enough, could be all over this place. She almost keyed her transmitter, but her eyes took in the surroundings just in time to note who they had come to meet as his giant frame came into sharp focus.

Megatron, Optimus Prime's killer and arch-nemesis, had seen better days, certainly, but Mikaela knew good and well that he was still quite capable of smashing her and leaving her to die in agony, if he chose not to merely blast her out of existence. She could not help but remember the pitiful ripped frame that had once housed Jazz's spark.

"You bring a human as your bartering credit, Blitzwing?" Megatron sneered.

"Not just any human, Lord Megatron," Blitzwing said with enough restraint to make the Lord High Protector forgive the arrogance he could hear lurking in the mech. "This one has learned how to make repairs, which makes her of use as a slave. However, Lord, it is the fact she is resonating with spark energy that she has been stealing from the Autobots that makes her valuable!"

Megatron's scans raked over her without any finesse, causing the hair along her arms to stand on end. //Definitely getting more sensitive to that,// Mikaela idly noted, not even attempting, yet, to struggle against Octane's hold on her.

"And of what use would this be once she had stolen all the energy from Prime's mecha?"

Octane shuffled slightly forward now, still keeping her within his large hand. "My Lord, I pledge to you on my own spark, it is not just that she steals it; what she takes from them continues to expand and grow! I witnessed and recorded this recently!"

//What?!// Mikaela's realization of that repair having been to get that data was overwhelmed by the shock of what Octane had said.

"What an interesting effect the Allspark has made on this species then," Megatron said in a calm, cool, and completely calculating tone.

Fear washed through Mikaela on every level as she realized her existence had just gone from lab assistant to lab rat, unless she got the hell out of here.


End file.
